The Paper's special contributor Tang Jun
The Houthis attacked targets in Abu Dhabi, uae, with a number of long-range missiles from the Houthis attacking targets in the United Arab Emirates, the UAE spending $3.5 billion on South Korean air defense missiles, and Israel once again successfully testing the "Arrow"-3 anti-missile interceptor... The missile offensive and defensive war in the Middle East has further escalated.
Houthi spokeswoman Yahya Saree announced on Jan. 17 that the Houthis had fired five "ballistic and cruise missiles" and "a large number of drones" that had attacked "some important and sensitive locations and facilities in the UAE," including airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, killing and injuring many people.
Coincidentally, just a day before the Houthi attack, South Korea signed a preliminary agreement with the UAE on the sale of anti-aircraft missiles to Abu Dhabi. South Korean President Moon Jae-in signed the agreement after meeting with EMI Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in Dubai. Yonhap News Agency quoted media sources as saying that the value of the agreement could reach $3.5 billion. It was also the largest foreign arms sales contract in South Korea's history.
On the 18th, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that it had successfully conducted an anti-missile test on the same day, using the latest anti-missile system "Arrow"-3.
"Sky Bow" from Korea
The UAE purchased the "Tiangong" -2 air defense missile "developed by itself" by South Korea.
South Korea developed the "Tiangong"-2 anti-aircraft missile.
Cheongung2 (KM-SAM) is a medium-range air defense missile system led by the South Korean Institute of Defense Sciences.
In the late 1990s, South Korea launched the Skybow-2 medium-range air defense missile program in place of the aging U.S.-made Hawker anti-aircraft missile, initially named the Iron Eagle-2.
When the "Tiangong" 2 missile system was launched, the entire project was stalled due to the lack of support from the United States, and the plan for the missile to equip the troops in 2010 was a milestone. In desperation, South Korea can only look for other countries willing to provide missile technology. It happened that Russia was developing the S-350 Warrior anti-aircraft missile system to replace the S-300 missile, but due to the lack of funds, the development plan was slow, and even the news that the missile system was facing disembarking was reported. One is suffering from financial embarrassment, the other is suffering from lack of technology, and the two sides hit it off. South Korea provided funding, and Russia provided technology and helped South Korea complete the localization of the "Tianbow"-2 air defense missile.
The "SkyBow" -2 adopts a wingless aerodynamic layout similar to the Russian 48N6E missile, which is 4.61 meters long, 275 mm in diameter, 400 kg in weight, with a maximum range of 40 km and a maximum height of 25 km. The missile is guided by inertial and ascending datalink commands in the initial and mid-flight stages, active radar guidance at the end, and the missile warhead is a 24 kg multi-point detonation directional fragment warhead. In addition to intercepting traditional aerodynamic targets such as aircraft and drones, the missile can also be a short-range tactical ballistic missile with a speed of 5 km/s and a cruise missile.
The missile adopts a vertical "cold launch" method, when the missile is vertically ejected by the propellant to an altitude of about 30 meters above the ground, the missile engine is ignited, and each launch vehicle is equipped with 8 ready-to-fire missiles. Each subsystem of the "Tiangong" -2 air defense missile system uses KM1002 high-mobility military trucks.
The search/fire control radar of the "Tiangong"-2 missile system is a single-sided 3D phased array radar of the MFMTR X band. The miter rectangular antenna is arranged at the top of the radar cabin, and the antenna can fold the radar cabin forward when marching to reduce the height of the radar vehicle. Since the radar uses a single-sided array antenna, in order to achieve omnidirectional coverage, the radar is equipped with a rotating machine with a rotation speed of 60 rpm. The radar adopts X-band and electronic beam control mode, which has the advantages of low side lobe and strong main lobe, and can detect and track more than 40 targets at the same time, and guide missiles to intercept 8 of them with greater threat.
In 2012, the "Tiangong" -2 missile began to be test-fired, and then South Korea began to develop an improved "Tiangong" -2 missile to further improve its combat performance. In June 2017, the "Tianbow"-2 missile system was tested for the first time with live ammunition, successfully fired a second fire in the air, flew at a speed of Mach 4.5 and hit a target 40 kilometers away, and in July and August 2021, the missile accurately hit the missile and aircraft target during the firing test conducted at the Anxing Test Site in Taean County, South Korea, and entered the mass production stage after completing the quality certification.
The "Skybow"-2 anti-aircraft missile system is equipped with a phased array radar.
As a new type of medium-range air defense missile system that has emerged in the new century, the "Tiangong" -2 not only absorbs some technical characteristics of Russian-style air defense missiles, but also integrates the advanced air defense missile technologies of some Western countries, and the overall level can still enter the ranks of the world's advanced medium-range air defense missiles. At present, South Korea has also developed the "SeaBow" ship-to-air missile on the basis of the "Tiangong" -2 missile to meet the needs of the ROK Navy.
Starting from the "Shengong" man-portable air defense missile, South Korea has gradually developed different types of air defense missile systems such as the "Tianma" short-range air defense missile and the "Tiangong" -2 medium-range air defense missile, with a range covering ultra-short-range, short-range and medium-range, which is not easy for a medium-sized country and is admirable. At present, South Korea is also developing an anti-missile system similar to the US "THAAD" system, with a range of at least more than 100 kilometers.
The Missile Race in the Middle East has already been staged
For countries like the United Arab Emirates, the choice of medium-range air defense missiles is still relatively large, you can choose both the United States, Europe and other Western products, you can also choose products from China, Russia and other countries, and the overall performance of many products is above the South Korean "Tiangong" -2 missile, so why the UAE will choose South Korea's products.
The "Conqueror" -110 ballistic missile on display at the military parade.
The reason why the UAE chose the "Tiangong" -2 missile is first of all that the bomb can meet the uae's partial air defense and anti-missile in terms of performance. The UAE is currently mainly equipped with the Patriot series and the Hawker anti-aircraft missiles, although the Hawker missile has been improved, but it has been unable to meet the demand, and the "Skybow" -2 is just a missile developed to replace the Hawker.
Secondly, compared with the "Patriot" -3 missile, the "Tiangong" -2 is relatively cheap, not only can be used to intercept aerodynamic targets such as cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, but also has a certain interception ballistic missile capability, which can be combined with high-end "Patriot" -3 missiles, "Tiangong" -2 has a strong air defense and anti-missile capability, which can be used to intercept the missed targets of the "Patriot"-3. The Patriot-3 is expensive and suitable for intercepting ballistic missiles, such as the relatively inexpensive Tianbow-2 missile, which can be used to intercept cruise missiles and suicide drones.
Finally, diversify weapons and deepen defense cooperation with South Korea. In order to expand the arms trade, South Korea's trade strategy is flexible, the cost performance is relatively high, and there are usually no political strings attached.
In recent years, the Middle East has set off a new wave of missile proliferation, and ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and medium- and long-range suicide drones have been frequently used in military conflicts or military deterrence in the region.
The Houthis are a rising force in the Missile Race in the Middle East. The Houthis are equipped with ballistic missiles such as "Nakar" and "Qasim", cruise missiles have the "Quds Al-Quds" series of medium- and long-range missiles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, and the Houthis also have various types of suicide drones. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked saudi and EMI airports and oil refineries, using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and suicide drones, and sometimes in one operation different types of missiles and drones to cooperate, demonstrating their long-range strike capabilities.
Saudi Arabia will be equipped with the "THAAD" system to enhance anti-missile capabilities.
Saudi Arabia is also ramping up its missile strike capabilities. According to recent reports in the US media, Saudi Arabia is actively developing home-made ballistic missiles, a development that could cause a major ripple effect throughout the Middle East region. Although Saudi Arabia has previously purchased ballistic missiles, it has not mastered the production technology of ballistic missiles. But the latest satellite imagery shows that Saudi Arabia is currently building missiles at at least one location funded by other countries. The researchers believe the facility is disposing of solid propellants produced during ballistic missile production, which is "the first clear evidence that the facility is producing missiles." At the military parade in Saudi Arabia on April 29, 2014, the DF-3 missiles equipped by the Saudi Strategic Missile Force made their first public appearance and became a hot topic.
In the Middle East, Iran is currently the most powerful missile power. At present, it has ballistic missiles such as the "Meteor" series, the "Conqueror" series, the "Mudstone" series and the "Khoramshahr", covering a range of 200 km to 3000 km, both solid and liquid. Western intelligence estimates that Iran possesses nearly 2,000 ballistic missiles. In addition, Iran has previously publicly displayed the "Hoveize" cruise missile, which resembles the Us "Tomahawk" cruise missile. In January 2020, Iranian missiles accurately hit the hangar, runway and other facilities of the US military's Ain Al-Assad Air Base in Iraq, demonstrating the precision strike capability of Iran's "Conqueror" -313 missile.
In order to deal with the expanding ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, many countries in the Middle East have also strengthened the construction of air defense and anti-missile forces, and the UAE's purchase of South Korea's "Tiangong" -2 missile is a measure in this context. In addition to the UAE, countries such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran are also actively strengthening their air defense and anti-missile capabilities.
On January 18, the Israeli Defense Ministry issued a statement saying that it cooperated with the US Missile Defense Agency to successfully conduct the Interception Test of the Arrow-3 anti-missile system ballistic missile in central Israel on the same day. The Arrow anti-ballistic missile system was jointly developed by Israel and the United States. Together with the Patriot, David Catapult, and Iron Dome systems, the system forms Israel's multi-level anti-missile system, defending against long-range, medium-range, and short-range missile threats, respectively. Among them, the "Arrow-3" is the first anti-missile system developed by Israel, and the interceptor bomb uses a kinetic energy warhead, which was successfully tested for the first time in 2015.
Under the agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the United States will provide Saudi Arabia with the first THAAD anti-missile system in 2023. In October 2017, the U.S. Department of State made a decision to approve the sale of THAAD anti-missile systems and related support, equipment, and services to the Saudi Arabian government at an estimated cost of $15 billion. Saudi Arabia will be equipped with 44 THAAD missile launchers, 360 interceptor missiles, 16 sets of fire control and communications mobile tactical stations, and 7 AN/TPY-2 radars. After the delivery of the THAAD system, Saudi Arabia will have a two-layer anti-missile system composed of "Patriot" and "THAAD".
To sum up, with the further proliferation of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in the Middle East, the missile offensive and defensive war in the Middle East will also become more and more intense.
Editor-in-Charge: Xie Ruiqiang Photo Editor: Jiang Lidong
Proofreader: Liu Wei